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Q. #massa n. “bread” (Category: Bread)

Q. #massa, n. “bread” (Category: Bread)

A word for “bread” appearing as massa (VT43/12) or massë (PE17/52) in Tolkien’s later writings, most notably as an element in Q. massánië “breadgiver” (PM/404). It was in competition with, and possibly replaced, the word masta “bread”. The distinction between the two was discussed in notes from 1960s (PE17/52):

Assume a Primitive Eldarin derivation *mbassē “(baked) bread”. The other derivatives were *mbasta with short final, an infinitive or verbal noun formation denoting a single action of the stem .. and *mbazdā denoting the passive result of the action, and when used substantivally a single product of this: mbazda would thus mean baked or a baked thing ... In Quenya we have masse “bread” as a material, and masta “a cake or loaf” (zd > st).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I prefer to use massa as the typical word for “bread” rather than massë, to avoid conflict with other words like [ᴹQ.] masse “where”. I would also use masta as a more general word for baked goods, including bread but also other baked things like cakes and loafs.

References ✧ PE17/52; VT43/18

Glosses

Variations

Related

Inflections

massamma 1st-pl-exclusive-poss “*our bread” ✧ VT43/18

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

mbassē > masse [mbassē] > [massē] > [masse] ✧ PE17/52